


Blue

by Dalankar



Category: SHINee, Super Junior
Genre: Bullying, M/M, Non-Graphic Violence
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-12-14
Updated: 2014-12-14
Packaged: 2018-03-01 10:37:34
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,411
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2769947
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Dalankar/pseuds/Dalankar
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The adventures of a pair of star-crossed bounty hunters.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Blue

**Author's Note:**

> Inspired by the Mamacita concept.

Donghae is leaning casually against the door frame when Hyukjae enters the bar. He adjusts the gun strapped to his back, blows a wisp of white blonde hair out of his eyes and walks over to the bar. It’s only after he signals for a drink that he finally turns his gaze to the blue haired man watching him intently.  
He looks the same. Same seductive dark eyes, pale skin and those very kissable lips. His pair of trademark silver Colts are strapped to his hips. Beautiful, yes. But dangerous. Lee Donghae has always been so dangerous.  
His drink arrives and Hyukjae takes a sip, giving Donghae the time to walk over.  
"I have a room booked upstairs," Donghae tells him, in that soft voice of his'. The one that Hyukjae has been dreaming about for months. "I want to spend the night together." Donghae's eyes search Hyukjae's face and then he dips his head, a small smile at the edge of his lips and walks away. Hyukjae watches him walk up the stairs, drink forgotten in his hand, no longer surprised that they've found each other again.  
-  
As much as he wants to run, his feet would not move. They stay planted firmly on the dusty ground and he watches as the blue haired boy backs away until he is pressed against the wall behind him. The aggressors follow, terrible, satisfied smiles on their faces as they corner their prey. Hyukjae flinches when the first fist connects and the boy doubles over, gasping for breath. The bullies laugh and push the boy back. Hyukjae's hands clench into fists when they kick at the boy, as he falls to the ground and curls up into a helpless ball. Hyukjae is not thinking when he picks up the rock, he can only see the pain on the boy's face and the way he tries to cover his head to protect himself from the bullies. The rock connects with the back of the biggest bully and as expected they stop tormenting the boy on the ground and turn towards Hyukjae instead.  
Hyukjae smirks.  
"What are you going to do about it, butt-face?"  
The bullies snarl and give chase. With one last look at the forlorn figure on the ground, slowly lifting his blood smeared face, Hyukjae runs. He's fast. He knows he's going to be just fine.  
-  
When he enters the room, Donghae is coming out of the wash room. He must have washed his hair because it's still wet and other than the towel he has thrown across one shoulder, he is completely naked. For a moment he looks startled to see Hyukjae, hands reaching down to his hips for his guns out of habit. Hyukjae lets the door fall shut behind him and steps into the room. Donghae stands still and watches him. Hyukjae leaves his gun by the bed and takes one step after another until he is standing in front of Donghae. The old scars, the ones that Hyukjae has learnt by heart, they are still there. The long white scar at his throat, the circular, pink one above his hip. And now there is a new one too. Between the second and third ribs, jagged and not completely healed, as if a knife had dug into his flesh. Hyukjae touches his fingers over the skin around it.  
"I paid him back for that," Donghae tells him quietly, reaching up with both hands and cradles Hyukjae's face between them.  
Hyukjae knows. It has been a long time since Donghae has let anyone take anything from him without payback.  
-  
"You're leaving aren't you?" Hyukjae asks, keeping his hands in his pockets and watching the blue haired boy as he leans against the rotting wood panels of the fence. Donghae keeps his eyes on the ground and nods.  
"Forever?" His hands clench within his pockets, safely out of sight from Donghae.  
Again, Donghae nods.  
"I'm sorry," he whispers and Hyukjae forces himself to laugh.  
"For what? I ain't gonna miss ya," he says easily and Donghae's head snaps up, hurt written so clearly on his face.  
His fingernails are digging so hard into his palms that he must be drawing blood.  
"Hyukjae-"  
Hyukjae shrugs. "See ya later then. Or not," he grins and turns away. He doesn't take two steps before there is a hand gripping his sleeve, halting him in place.  
"Hyukjae, don't…" Donghae whispers, sounding close to tears. Sure enough when Hyukjae turns his head, Donghae's pretty brown eyes are filled with tears.  
Hyukjae sighs and reaches up to brush Donghae's blue hair away from his face. "Hey." Donghae takes a shuddering breath and Hyukjae leans in to lightly touch his lips to Donghae's. "Forget about me, alright?" He says as he pulls the old fedora off his head, the one his old man had left behind, and puts it over Donghae's blue hair.  
Hyukjae lets himself graze longing fingers down Donghae's face before taking a step back. Donghae's tears spill and run down his cheeks. "It'll be easier that way," he whispers and walks away.  
He forces himself not to look back.  
-  
"You're here for the job Sheriff Choi put out, right?" Donghae asks later, his head on Hyukjae's chest, a cigarette dangling lazily from one hand. Hyukjae lets his fingers sift through Donghae's blue hair and Donghae hums happily.  
"He must be desperate to call in bounty hunters," Donghae continues. "But I bet the pay is going to be good."  
Then he stubs his cigarette on the bedside table and turns over, straddling Hyukjae and looking down at him with hooded eyes. "It'll be good to work with you again."  
Hyukjae smiles, reaches up a hand and pulls Donghae down to him. Donghae comes willingly, settles warm over Hyukjae and kisses him.  
-  
It's not his fault that the job had gone wrong. It was meant to be a simple highway robbery, but there had been too many guards on the coach and their man inside had fucking failed to inform them of that. So now they're stuck in a bloody shootout with the pinkertons and Hyukjae is getting pretty damn tired of getting shot at one too many times.  
A bullet zings past his ear and he automatically brings up a hand to check that his ear is still intact. Luckily for him and his good looks, it is.  
"Henry!" Hyukjae yells at the youngest member of the group, "Go around those trees and circle them from the west."  
Henry looks over at Zhoumi, who nods in agreement, before heading out. Hyukjae sighs. Shindong had recommended them, said he'd appreciate him getting them out of his hair while he plotted more serious business. And they've been good, better than Hyukjae had expected from a couple who has not been in the business for even two years. Zhoumi is a great shot, not as good as Hyukjae himself of course but he still takes a moment to appreciate fine gunmanship as Zhoumi takes down one of the pinkertons, who have now started to shoot indiscriminately in all directions. They somehow seem to have endless fire power, another thing their unreliable snitch had failed to inform them about. Hyukjae is thinking about cutting his losses when another pinkerton gets taken down by shots fired from the east. Hyukjae peers over the rocks in confusion. Henry is behind the cover of the trees in the west, and he and Zhoumi are hiding behind the rocks on the south so someone else has clearly joined their party. Uninvited. But maybe not unwelcome if they can help out with this current unfavourable situation.  
Hyukjae decides to take advantage of the pinkertons' confusion and advances, taking one pinkerton in the leg and another who foolishly tries to help him, in the shoulder. Soon enough they manage to overwhelm the opposition, and the booty is theirs'. As Henry and Zhoumi gather up the pinkertons and make sure that none of them are going to die, at Hyukjae's insistence, the third party appears.  
Hyukjae is coming out of the coach with armful of money bags when he sees the newcomer. He nearly drops the money in shock. Henry and Zhoumi are regarding the newcomer with suspicious intent, hands on their guns.  
"I get a cut for helping out, right?" Lee Donghae, standing in the evening sunshine with two beautiful silver Colts holstered at his hips, a worn black fedora on his head with a blue fringe falling over his forehead, asks, eyes on Hyukjae like this is not the first time they've seen each other in five years.  
"Who the fuck are you?" Henry asks, striding up and looking Donghae over threateningly.  
"Blue. At your service. For a fee I doubt you can afford," Donghae introduces himself, eyes never leaving Hyukjae. Hyukjae slowly steps down from the carriage and puts the money bags down with the others. He's heard the stories of course. Blue, beautiful and deadly, a bounty hunter worth the money he charges for his jobs. Until now Hyukjae hadn't known who Blue was. That it was Donghae who he had never expected to see again.  
"Blue? Like the guy who took on the Kim brothers?" Zhoumi asks curiously.  
Donghae shrugs.  
"Holy shit, man!" Henry almost shouts. "You- you are- shit!" Henry vocalises his surprise enthusiastically.  
"Long time no see, Lee Hyukjae," Donghae says softly, completely ignoring Henry who is now looking at Donghae with a certain degree of awe.

When the money is divvied up, and Zhoumi and Henry have ridden off into the sunset with bags full of money, Donghae pauses and stares at Hyukjae for a long moment. It's a moment, and Hyukjae thinks Donghae has grown taller, maybe wiser, into someone that he probably can't lay any claim to anymore. Someone who wouldn’t let him.  
"You've let your hair grow," Donghae says finally, in a soft, quiet voice.  
Hyukjae remembers that Donghae had always liked his hair. It’s like starshine, he had once said, when they had been sleeping out on the fields on a warm summer night.  
"I thought maybe you…" he trails off as Donghae steps closer, eyes fixed on Hyukjae.  
"Forgot about you?" Donghae asks, tilting his head. "You did say I should, didn't you?"  
Donghae reaches up a careful hand, fingers tangling in Hyukjae's silver hair.  
"It wasn't easier for me," Donghae whispers, leans in and kisses him.  
-  
The deputy, a short, long faced guy with a head full of blue-green hair, sighs when they walk in, Hyukjae a step behind Donghae as they step into the cramped spaces of the office. Sheriff Choi is sitting behind a cluttered table, looking as though he's dreaming of an early retirement.  
"I suppose it could have been worse," the sheriff says, looking over them. "I could have gotten those DBSK bastards, nearly lost an arm thanks to that stick insect of a Shim," he mutters.  
Hyukjae had come across DBSK a few times in his travels, and can't say he is a fan. Uknow, orange hair and thick hands, and his partner in crime, Max, smoky blue hair and a skinny, cunning face, had nearly gotten Hyukjae arrested and hanged in their last encounter. Hyukjae would very much like to pay them back for that one day.  
When they say nothing, the sheriff sighs. "There was an incident two nights ago. A highly valuable item was stolen from the town's bank by the Park gang. The bank wants it back. I would have put my own men on it, but as you can clearly see I have no men. Nobody wants to be an officer of the law anymore, except for naïve fools like him," sheriff Choi says, indicating the long faced guy watching them curiously, who doesn’t seem offended by the sheriff's words as if he'd heard them a hundred times before.  
"I'm hiring you to recover what was stolen. Do what you have to do, try not to break too many rules. And the bank will reward you handsomely if you succeed." The sheriff stares at them to see that they understood.  
"What was stolen?" Donghae asks.  
The sheriff sighs again. "The son of the bank owner."  
"What?" Donghae asks, surprised. Even Hyukjae feels his own eyebrows lift.  
"Lee Taemin, son of Lee Sungmin, heir to a sum of money bigger than any of us can dream of, was kidnapped on his way home from the saloon. We're certain it was the Park gang because Park Jungsu, Kim Youngwoon and Cho Kyuhyun were in the town when it happened and now they're nowhere to be found. They have sent a ransom demand but Mr Lee wants to get his son back without giving into their demands."  
Hyukjae is not surprised that the man would risk his son's life for money. He's found that many rich people prefer the comfort of money to their families. But it is not like Hyukjae can judge, he is risking his life for the very same soulless thing every day.  
Donghae meets his eyes and Hyukjae nods.  
"We’ll take the job," Donghae says but the sheriff's eyes are now on Hyukjae.  
"Silver, if I ever hear anything-" he starts but Donghae cuts him off.  
"You don't need to worry about that," he says in a curt voice, "It has already been taken care of."  
-  
He shouldn't have taken that job. He should have listened to his instincts and run for it. But he'd been broke and the money had been too tempting to resist.  
"Can't have you telling tales about this now, can I?" His employer had asked as his men held Hyukjae down on his knees. Hyukjae would never have told, and he'd sworn on his soul that he would not. But they'd made sure of it. That he'd never speak of it to anyone. That he'd never speak of anything to anyone.  
"You should be grateful this is all we are taking," they’d told him as they came at him with a glowing red knife.  
They'd tumbled Hyukjae out of a carriage at the outskirts of the nearest town, sheriff Choi's town. Hyukjae had nearly died of infection. He doesn't know if it was a fever induced hallucination, but he thinks he remembers Donghae's blue hair, remembers hands holding tightly on to his'. Remembers a voice pleading and demanding.  
"Don't you dare die on me, Lee Hyukjae," Donghae had hissed at him, sounding angry and close to tears at the same time. And Hyukjae had marvelled that even in a dream he could feel Donghae's warmth as if he was really there. When he had woken up after a week, the doctor had peered at him over his glasses and patted him gently on the shoulder.  
"Well it's a miracle but you're alive."  
There had been no sign of Donghae so he knew he must have imagined him after all.  
He'd run after that, putting miles and towns behind him and his nightmare. For months his dreams had been haunted by blood and fire. But what he held onto was the voice pleading for him to stay alive.  
-  
Hyukjae wraps a hand around Donghae's wrist and forces him to a halt. Hyukjae looks at Donghae's tense shoulders and breathes.  
He keeps his hand wrapped loosely around Donghae's and steps in front of him, seeking answers. He keeps still until Donghae finally looks up.  
"I wasn't going to let them be. Not after what they did." Donghae's voice is soft and uneven. Hyukjae's fingers tighten around Donghae's wrist and he realises that he hadn't been dreaming. Donghae had been there by his side, pleading for him to stay alive.  
He presses closer, until Donghae's back hits the wall behind him and their bodies are pressed impossibly close. Donghae could have died and Hyukjae wouldn't have known for a long time. Maybe he never would have known. He would have continued existing, would have thought Donghae must have gotten tired and gone south. And one day a bullet would have found its mark and he would have died, in the only way he wants to die, and not known that the boy he loved had gone before him.  
But it didn't happen. And Donghae always finds him. Like Donghae is the needle of a compass and Hyukjae is true north. Wherever their paths take them, they always end up being drawn back to each other.  
When he kisses him, Hyukjae feels the shiver than runs down Donghae's body and he is certain that it is not tears that he can taste slipping between their kiss.  
It has been a long time since Lee Donghae let anything break him into tears.

Kim Jonghyun, the short, long faced deputy comes with them.  
"It's the least I can do," Sheriff Choi had said as they left. Actually, the least he could have done was not burden them with a guy who might turn tail and run when they're faced with their first fight. Donghae had rolled his eyes as they headed for their horses.  
"Just so you know, kid," Donghae says, sitting astride his horse which he had named Nemo for some inexplicable reason, "we're not going to baby sit you."  
Jonghyun nods solemnly, pulling on the reigns to control his horse. "I can handle myself."  
Hyukjae shrugs at Donghae who sighs and urges his horse forward, leading this hunt.

They walk into Heechul's bar in the next town over, nodding at the barkeep and sit down at the back, in the shadows.  
"What are we doing here?" Jonghyun asks, looking around at the seedy interior with vary eyes.  
Hyukjae raises an eyebrow at him.  
"Unless you know where they took the Lee boy, we need information," Donghae tells him.  
"Taemin," Jonghyun says and looks away when two pairs of eyes fix on him. "His name is Taemin."  
"You like him or something?" Donghae asks, leaning forward curiously. "That why you're here?"  
By the way he is biting his lip, Hyukjae can tell that Donghae had hit the mark.  
"His father doesn't know," Jonghyun tells them after a long moment.  
"I'm sure he'd be thrilled," Donghae says with amusement.  
"Taemin doesn’t care," Jonghyun informs them stiffly.  
Donghae laughs. "I bet he doesn't."  
Jonghyun glares.  
"Boys," Kim Heechul slides smoothly into the seat in front of them. "What can I do for you?"  
"We're looking for the Park gang," Donghae tells him and Heechul's expression shutters.  
"Come on, Blue," Heechul smiles sweetly at Donghae. "They're just trying to make a living."  
"They're criminals!" Jonghyun breathes out vehemently. Heechul raises an eyebrow at him.  
"Where did you find this ray of sunshine?" he asks, and Hyukjae holds back a laugh as Jonghyun splutters.  
"Sheriff Choi's best and brightest," Donghae says with an amused glance at the red faced boy.  
Heechul laughs. "Ah, Choi Siwon. I'm sure he's still got a few sticks up his behind."  
"Hey!' Jonghyun cries, which just makes Heechul laugh harder and Hyukjae has to grip Jonghyun's shoulder to keep him from taking any drastic actions to defend his Sheriff's honour.  
"Heechul-" Donghae leans forward, face serious, "you know we're not asking anything for free."  
Heechul sighs. "Alright. But Blue, this didn't come from me, alright?"  
They nod in agreement. Heechul is a panderer. Of all things that are profitable. This includes information. He has sources that keeps him informed of most things that happens within miles, and he delights in selling what he knows for a price that can only be afforded by the cashed-up or the desperate. Hyukjae knows firsthand, the price doesn’t always have to be paid in cash. But that had been a long time ago and Hyukjae has built his reputation now which means he hasn’t been desperate for a long time. 

They make camp on the road. The sky is clear and a million stars shimmer at them from their dizzying heights. Donghae works on starting a fire while Jonghyun prepares dinner, canned beans and dry bread, and Hyukjae walks over to groom the horses.  
"Why doesn’t he talk?" Hyukjae hears Jonghyun's voice as he is brushing down Nemo.  
Hyukjae hears Donghae scoff. "Why is that any of your business?"  
"Just-" Hyukjae runs a gentle hand down the spine of the animal, who continues to munch on the dry grass. "-the Sheriff said-"  
"I don't give a fuck about what your sheriff said-" Hyukjae hears Donghae's low, angry voice, "-Don't stick your nose in other people's business."  
"I'm sorry, okay. I was just curious," Jonghyun says carefully.  
"Be curious about something else," he hears Donghae mutter, and gets back to brushing as he hears footsteps heading his way.  
Hyukjae continues to brush as he hears Donghae stop behind him.  
"Hyukjae." Donghae's voice is so soft, that Hyukjae's mind immediately goes back to their early years, when Donghae hadn't been so deadly and they had not known of the trials the world had in store for them. Hyukjae turns to Donghae. There is only starlight to see by but it is enough. Hyukjae reaches up a hand and lifts the fedora off Donghae's head, drops it on their bags on the ground.  
He got used to it fast. There was no time to be maudlin over it, not if he wanted to eat. He had missed it at the start, but he had only become someone who used his actions instead of his words. And he'd decided that words were overrated anyway.  
But now, just at this moment he wishes he could have them back, just to tell Donghae how he feels, that he thinks he might be in love, that he might have been in love for years and years and years, over all the distance they've travelled and all the things they've done, Lee Donghae, I love you.  
"After we get paid for this job, let's go down south okay. I want to see the ocean," Donghae tells him and Hyukjae does the only thing he can do to tell him, okay, whatever you want. He leans in, fingers tangling in Donghae's sweaty blue hair and kisses him.

They find the Park gang holed up in a decrepit ranch ten miles out of town. Hyukjae wants, if at all possible, to end this without anyone getting shot. But Jonghyun beside him is gripping his rifle with white knuckled hands and there is a steely determination on Donghae's face, he somehow doubts he'll get what he wants.  
They circle around the old building, and comes face to face with Cho Kyuhyun, better known as GameGyu, on sentry. Before they can react, a gun goes off and GameGyu who had shot up to his feet in surprise, clutches a hand to his shoulder and drops to his knees. Jonghyun, smoking gun in his hands, stares at him in shock.  
Suffice to say the sound of the shot, and the loud cursing of GameGyu brings out the other two members of the Park gang.  
Donghae, about to give Jonghyun an earful, instead raises his pistols at Leeteuk and Kangin who rush at them. Hyukjae raises his own gun and soon they are at an impasse, both parties tense and ready to fire.  
Everyone is surprised when the victim in question, a pale faced boy with golden hair who must be none other than Lee Taemin, heir to a fortune, steps in between them. Jonghyun takes a step forward, but Donghae pulls him back.  
"I think this has gone far enough," the boy says softly. "I'm sorry to have caused trouble for you all."  
"What are you talking about?" Donghae asks, sounding close to angry.  
Taemin swallows, eyes darting to Jonghyun and away.  
"Are you sure you want to do this?" Leeteuk asks, hand still on his gun.  
"Yeah. We can totally end them," Kangin says, trying for menacing but failing miserably due to his terrible purple coloured dreadlocks that swing carelessly around his face.  
"I never wanted anyone to get hurt," Taemin says, eyes flickering to where GameGyu is sitting propped up on the ground. GameGyu scoffs and mutters something that sounds like 'too fucking late for that.'  
"You see-" Taemin finally dares to look at them, "-they didn’t kidnap me. They helped me escape."  
"What?" Donghae asks, "What about the ransom note?"  
"Did ya think we were gonna do it for free?" Kangin laughs.  
"Why, Taemin?" Jonghyun asks quietly. Taemin swallows and drops his head.  
"I didn’t want to be in my father's power anymore," he whispers. "He wanted me to get married, Jonghyun."  
Jonghyun's gasp of surprise is drowned out by Donghae's annoyed laugh.  
"Kid, if we don't take you back, we don't get paid. So woeful as your story is, we're taking you back," Donghae says in his no-nonsense voice, making Leeteuk and Kangin grip their guns tighter.  
"I thought maybe you might-" Taemin's eyes travel between his kidnappers and rescuers, "-share the ransom instead."

"Smart kid, that Taemin," Donghae says as they amble down the road. Hyukjae wholeheartedly agrees. Faced with the prospect of a life time of adventure with Taemin, Jonghyun had quit as the deputy sheriff on the spot. Hyukjae hopes that the world would be kind to them and he's fairly sure that in the cases when it's not, Taemin would find a way to manipulate it into submission. Hyukjae appreciates that he had asked for a large enough sum of money as ransom, and they had faked a double cross and gotten away with it too. Hyukjae doubts the bank would feel the loss of the money, or that Mr Lee would feel the loss of his son for long. After all, there is always more money to be made and more sons to sire. He's happy to put it all behind him, and be on the road with Donghae, who is riding ahead of him, his black fedora keeping the sun out of his face and swaying lightly as Nemo rides forward.  
Lee Donghae. Lee Donghae. Lee Donghae.  
He wonders if Donghae would ever come to regret not letting him go, not forgetting. Hyukjae hopes that he would not. He hopes that everything that had happened to bring them together like this means something, that it is the hand of destiny, their fate to never lose sight of one another.  
Donghae turns his head, meets his eyes and smiles. He can hear the ocean now.  
Hyukjae urges Meolchi ahead to catch up and Donghae starts telling him about seagulls. 

***


End file.
